


It's a new day.

by Jazzminehunter



Series: Making Peace [2]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Alternian Empire, Demonstuck, Derse and Prospit, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, M/M, War, pairings will be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-12 18:18:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5675845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzminehunter/pseuds/Jazzminehunter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the last five hundred years, relations between the three kingdoms have been hostile, if not downright genocidal . A group wishes to change this but find themselves stepping on some unexpected toes along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, thank you for reading. If anyone knows how to correctly format chapters, I would be more than a tiny bit grateful for the help. My chapters are coming out as blocks of text and it is extremely irritating.

 Dave

     Dave heard Jade's base as soon as the transportorlizator dropped him on her balcony. He had to step over potted plants as he slid the unlocked door open. The room was well lit and the TV was on. Jade wasn’t looking at it as she sat with her back to him in a threadbare armchair; her base cradled in the arm with the mark that looked like a dog's head than a batch of skin. In fact, it looked like that devil beast's head who at the moment wasn't growling at him. Only because it was nowhere to be seen: damn mutt wasn't even a goddamned dog, it was probably one of those lucus-thingy that take care of trolls. after all, hell murder island was crawling with them.

“Hi, Dave!” She greeted, two front teeth prominent in her smile.

“Hey” He took a seat on her couch, Jade stared at him, her smile falling.

“Dave, when was the last time you eat?”

“Today, had a big ole bowl of...”

She growled at him, “No! You know what I mean.” She paused. Rose had just knocked on the door, “I need to talk to you after the meeting.”She growled because yes, Rose was totally to the rescue.

He spoke too soon because Rose wasn't a source of rescue, she was further damnation. She floated over the potted plants, closed the door behind her, greeted Jade and him before taking a seat next to him on the couch. Once his cousin was settled, she pulled out a notebook and pen, turned to him and proceeded to psychoanalyze him with bullshit psychology that probably wasn't in her textbook. Jade sat back giggling at the situation as if it were a goddamned sitcom. Where in the shiny blue fuck was John so this can be over with. He can be chewed out by Jade, go home, work on his comic and go to bed. And why da fuck was she asking him about Freudian shit? Wasn't he discredited? He picked up the remote and surfed the channels until he found something he could, at least, pretend to watch.

“Sorry, I am late guys.” Oh, thank whatever flying spaghetti was listening because the of man the hour in here and this shitty show can get on the road. After he took a seat at the breakfast bar, Rose started with the updates. “Roxy is still working on the return node network and transportorlizators systems. Mixing magic and all the myriad of science that goes into teleportation is not her specialty.”

“Oh, I can help with that.” Jade offered, Rose nodded.

“Construction on the island is ahead of schedule.” Jade continued, “Skaia's headquarters should be ready to go by summer next year.”

“Little under a third of Prospit is now with Skaia.”John reported, “Which is surprising but I guess a lot of people are tired of this war. But how will Broderick react when he finds out a third of his men defected?” All three of them look at Dave for a prediction and hell he did not have an answer. His best guess was the worst case scenario.

“Not sure but I say we cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“What about the bridge of Derse?” Rose asked

“That too.” He didn't quite mean that.

“Dave!” Jade scorned.

“What? The asshole is being uncooperative.”

“Apparently he isn't the only one,” Rose stated

Dave leaned farther back into the couch, “Look. I'm working on it and if Roxy is so close to him, Rose, she can work out the alliance with Derse.”

“Rose, how's everything with the Heiress going?” Once again, thank you, John.

“Good actually, at the moment all we're waiting for is an exact date and preferred location.”

        Dave found himself surprisingly quiet as the meeting ended; Jade made everyone a list of objectives for the next month, matching her own with a set of colored rubber bands on her fingers. He didn't really need a list. All Dave had to do was reconcile fifteen years of embitterment with his brother, at least enough to make a reasonable agreement to form an alliance between Derse and Skaia. Wonderful. John and Rose cleared out quickly, both having 'early morning engagements' as Rose put it, leaving him alone with Jade which usually wasn't a bad thing except she was looking at him like a teacher about to call his parent. Like he'd just kicked another kid down a flight of stairs and was laughing about it. She set the base down and came to stand in front of the TV. Dave looked up as Jade pressed her lips to his.

       He would have been pissed were it not for the sharp electric feeling of her kiss that made his stomach growl. She tasted supercharged; warm and sweet like earth and growing things. The burst of power pushed back the fatigue he’d been feeling for the last few days but only slightly. She pulled away, leaving an inch between his lips. The space was filled with the sweet green mist that blurred out any thought that wasn't food and it's source that was so close. More, more; his hands reached for the source of his intoxication, he definitely needed ...and fuck no this was NOT happening.

Dave handled his arms out, pushed her away. He stood. Jade sat. “You promised me you wouldn’t do that again!” He hissed, pacing away from the couch. Jade pulled her legs up until she sat with her legs crossed. “And you promise you'd take better care of yourself and eat when you're supposed to! Yet look what you haven't been doing!” She snapped back. “And don't tell me you have been eating because if you had, you would not have lost control like that!” She glared at him over her thick framed glasses.

“Jade, when I eat is not your problem.”

“It is when it puts others at risk! When it puts your health at risk!” The two glared at one another for a few moments longer before Dave relented.

“I was planning to go tonight and I’ll try to eat like should OK?”

“Don't say you'll try. Try implies failure.”

“OK. I will eat when I should. Better? Can I leave now?”

“Yes, yes, you can.” He was standing at the balcony doors before Jade spoke again “And Dave I 'm sorry I broke my promise to prove a point.” He nodded in response.

       The transportorlizator him standing on the roof of his shitty apartment as the wind chilled him to the bone. Dave really wasn't in the mood tonight, but he really needed to eat. The club, he headed to, wasn't far from his apartment so Dave took the scenic root in other words he jumped from roof top to roof top until he landed on top of the club. He landed on the rooftop of the building, the music from the dance floor thumped through four floors. The four floors were an arcade full of patrons, more humans than anything else, and the night club where all three races were bumping and grinding on one another. Roxy's establishment, which was ready all he could really call it. What do you call a night club and an arcade all under one roof, a barcade? Naw. A game club. Maybe. Anyway, Roxy’s bar was appropriately named 'The Neutral Zone' as it was a neutral area where the three races weren’t at each others throats every damned second.

Dave approached the bar, tonight's tender was someone he recognized and slid him a nice cold unopened bottle of apple juice. He popped the top and surveyed the dance floor and the woman at the end of bar checking him out. A warm wiggling weight hit him like a freight train slamming into Grand Central station. Walls collapse and rumble went everywhere. And by rumble, he meant apple juice since he had chosen that moment to take a large gulp of juice. The freight train wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. She gave great hugs and her energy tasted spicy “ You finally showing your face around here after all this time. We missed you, Davey.” She unwrapped herself from around him taking the stool next to him. Roxy was tall, almost as tall as Jade: slender and athletic, with blonde stringy hair just little darker than Rose's. The bartender glared them, Roxy smiled apologetically “Sorry Wade” She called as he walked away. “Anyway,” she turned her attention back to him, “When are you gonna DJ for me again?”

“Whenever you clear a space for me.” He responded, finishing off the bottle.

“Next Saturday cool?”

“Yup. And stop telling Rose what's going between me and Dirk. If you think you can get this alliance going faster you can always give it a shot.”

“Dontcha think I've tried. Jeez, both of you are so fucking stubborn!”

“Just stop giving your sister updates.”

“Whatever you say.” She patted him on the shoulder before leaving him alone. Dave stood, striding over to the of the bar. He took the seat next to the woman sitting there and greeted her with his best grin.

                                                                                            Dirk

          The pulse died with a smooth hum as the convention attendees left the carpet dance floor for the row of doors that made up the exit. The colored strobe lights went off and the normal ones flashed on. A group passed by the stage, gossiping about how great the show was. Dirk smiled despite himself. The smile turned grim when the room cleared enough that he could see into the back of the room. In the corner stood a short man with a pale face and a sour expression that seemed permanently ingrained in his face was little deeper than usual. Yeah, he was in a hell lot of trouble, but a least it was the youngest Noir brother walking towards the improvised platform that made up the stage. He could bargain with Jack. He climbed the stage, “Would it kill you to let someone know where you're going. Just so we don’t get the idea that somebody’s dropped you in the middle of the street.”

“It might. I'd never go anywhere if I did.” Dirk didn’t look up as he began to pack up the small items his equipment. The convention's sound crew hadn’t started with their own yet.

“You don't even tell Roxy no more”

“Nah, she'd tell you,” Jack growled.

“What happens when Condy or the black queen hears you out with no one to guard you.”

“I'll be fine. I don't need a guard, but you're here now so it doesn't really matter now.”

      Jack crossed his arms over his chest “I'm not here to guard your stupid ass. I'm going to drag you back.” The sound crew started packing up, Dirk lowed his voice. “Oh come on. You're here now and I already have a three-day pass and I'm working the rave tomorrow.” Dirk showed him the three-day pass. Jack's expression did not change. “Besides, I have dinner waiting.”

“You can eat at home, your highness.” Jack snarled, this was not going well.

“Look, I'm sorry for making you worry and I'm sorry for sneaking out again, but I am twenty-five years old. I'm not a child anymore and can keep myself safe for a night or two without someone breathing down my throat.”

         The muscles in Jack's jaw bunched, but he uncrossed his arms “Fine, do what you want.” He grunted and Dirk could have hugged him. He didn't, of course, instead, he slid Jack his room key, telling him the room number of the room he'd be in before the dersite stalked off grumbling about spoiled coffin stuffers- the term the brothers reserved for Dave, Roxy and himself. An endearment of sorts- that meant he was still in for a lot of trouble. Oh well.

         Dirk left his equipment in a storage room and followed the crowd up the stairs. Most people exited the staircase before the tenth floor, but as he wasn’t lazy or hungry enough to deal the dangerously packed elevators Dirk walked up to the twentieth floor. The door opened before he could knock twice. The room was messy with clothes and stuff brought from the convention and empty besides the dude who opened the door. He sat on the bed. “How was the rest of your set?” the human asked, stunting over to the bed stopping in front of Dirk.

      “Awesome as usual,” Dirk remarked, laying his hands on the dude's hips. There was a knock at the door, but the human in front of him ignored it in favor of leaning down to press his lips to Dirk's. Dude tastes like oranges. Dirk pulled him down until his back is pressed to the bed. The knocking continued, slamming against the door so hard it shook the hinges. Dirk pulled away, letting him sit up. He opened the door, grumbling something that sounded like can't you see the sign. The voice that answered back made Dirk groan. Dirk was up and trading places with him before he was called. Jack stood just outside the door, his body stiff. It looked like spontaneous combustion was imminent. “The palace is under attack.” Jack hissed.

         They took a return node instead of flying reappearing in the part of the palace that was once a greeting room but now it was just on fucking fire. Dirk beat Jack out of the room, his sword appearing at his side already drawn. Two prospitians charge at him, weapons drawn. His wings tear out of his flesh, quickly and seamlessly, the tickling sensation disappearing quickly as his feathers harden. He cleared his way with a sweep of his wings impaling enemies and their reinforcements. Dirk flew through his home in a rage, slaying any Prospitian that wasn't already engaged with one of his men. Jack wasn't far behind them.

        They flew passed Becquerel Noir, bloody from battle. He was unmasked tonight, gaunt features twisted into a snarl as he kicked a dead Prospitian off his sword. "Spades! The juju!" He snarled up to them before cutting into another Prospitian. Dirk changed directions, flying head first into his throne room. Three people were inside; Broderick, Prosit's leader, flipped out of a window leaving broken glass in his wake. Dirk would have gone after were it not for the petite round women kneeling on the floor with her blonde hair so caked in blood it was no longer blonde. Her whole body trembled as she tried to press her hands into the bloody chest of Spades Slick.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edited.

                                                                                          Rose

  
           The transportorlizator dropped her a few blocks from her home; the walk back to which was mundane, the path well wore under her soles. When she reached her apartment, a man in an ill-fitting uniform held the door open for her. “Good evening Ms. Lalonde” the doorman greeted. Rose smiled at him and returned his greeting. The lobby was empty besides the two of them, it was rather late after all. On a whim, Rose took the stairs up to the fifth floor. Her apartment was the last one at the end of the hall. Light shone from her bedroom; Rose darted inside and closing the door. She slipped her coat off, laid her keys down on the table next to the door, and approached the door of her bedroom.

  
         A troll sat on the edge of her bed, her back to the door, curled around a notebook that she wasn't supposed to read out of. Her light taken a green tint, the same color that was dusted across her cheeks. Rose approached her bed slowly before pouncing, wrapping her arms around the troll's throat . “You’re not supposed to read that yet, Kanaya” Rose whispered in her ear. She jumped, turned, the green in her cheeks a little more pronounced. “Rose I...I'm sorry I couldn't help myself” she returned the embrace, the feel of her skin was not warm but the hug was still enjoyable. Rose pulled away to see her face “So how is it? Does it live up to your expectations so far?”

  
“It is superb. When does your publisher want it?”

  
“By the end of February.” Rose moved a little closer, “I did not expect you tonight. Are you hungry?”

  
“No, not really. The Heiress has chosen a location for the meeting. I was asked to pass it on to you.”

  
      The location is on a little white sheet of paper, the coordinates written in honey colored ink. Rose tucked it away. Kanaya sat the notebook beside her and pulled Rose closer. They stayed like that for awhile, talking about the newest happening within Prospit, the brooding caverns, and the rebellion. Kanaya's voice was a little odd as the topic of the cravens comes into the conversion.

  
“Kanaya, is something wrong?” Rose asked.

  
Kanaya looked taken back, “No no no, nothing is wrong. Why do you ask?”

  
        Rose did not respond, she just looked at Kanaya observing how her fangs pinched her bottom lip ever so slightly, how gray Kanaya's eyes were as they avoided contact with her own, how she stiffen when Rose leaned closer. Rose poised her lips to breathe Kanaya's name when... “Oh alright, something is wrong.” She took a deep, shaky breath and for a moment, Rose thought she 'd made a critical error in pushing Kanaya.

  
            “The cravens had gotten significantly worse. The patrols have increased because the empire is assured that the rebels have found their way into the tunnels. They are not wrong about that and the extra patrols would not be a problem...” She took another breath, “as no one knows every in and out of the tunnels. I mean, they spread all over the world.” Kanaya rambled, Rose did not interrupt. “Anyway, patrols would not be a problem were it not for the very public and painful punishments doled out to those who break the rules. The most recent happen this morning in my conglomerate. They forced us all out of our hives to watch” Rose took her hand with it's callous yet somehow delicate fingers. Tears slid down her cheeks. “And she was turned into a rainbow drinker. Rose, they slit her open and took her horns. They let her die slowly. She wasn't even one of the traitors.” She sobbed harder, Rose pulled her closer.

  
“It is not your fault.” She spoke softly “It is not your fault. You are not responsible for a broken system.”

  
“But if the jades working under Feferi were to crease? Would it really make that much of a difference to the rebellion.”

  
      "Yes, it would; the heiress' commutation network would be crippled. The punishments would continue and your sisters would continue suffering in vain.” Kanaya didn't respond to that right away, but she did not pull away either. A few seconds later she added, “You are right of course. At this point ending our work would have no point, besides, we are fighting for our freedom.” She looked a lot more hopeful but then her face fall again. “I don't know how much longer I can risk coming to see you.” Rose pressed herself further into the bed “I expected that would happen sooner or later. It is dangerous for you to traverse out of the cravens to see me for social visits.” Kanya nodded, “Which is why we should enjoy the time we have together.”

  
         Much sooner than either of them would have liked Kanaya found herself sliding out Rose's bed, allowing her horns to phasing into her skull and as the grey of her skin became a more reddish- brown Kanaya slid on the jacket she had brought with her. Rose left the bed as well, “I forgot to ask, did your dancestor and her hive mate ever seek political asylum with Derse?” She asked as they approached the front door. This question drew a heavy sigh. “No. They are both too stubborn and too assured of their safety in the cravens. They did, however, move much deeper underground into a more secure location. At least, I hope it's more secure.”

  
      Kanaya kissed her before leaving: it was always odd not having to kiss around fangs. Once the door was closed and locked, Rose turned to her apartment, with its pale creams and much darker accents, deciding what to do with the rest of her night. She had barely taken a step away from the door when her vision went dark and everything went silent. Rose realized with a sort of resigned horror that this vision was going to be painful. The vacuum of sensation was filled with a voice, accented and garbled, she could not make sense of what was said. Rose felt her own mouth begin to move before there was a flash of white light and pain. Lots of pain; a wet searing heat that spread from just under her breast reaching to her belly button.

  
       Her back hit the floor; blood pooling under her. And she could hear one more disembodied voice, still completely incomprehensible, more lights, adding red and blue to the now hazy white. She was passing out, no the person in vision was, the voices were getting farther away. The lights were being consumed by the darkness, but the pain was still vivid and searing. New, only slightly more coherent, voices were replacing the garbled ones. They were all speaking at once, thousands of little voices all at once, the force of them hurt.

  
'One at a time!' Rose screamed. She was never sure if that particular bellow was out loud or just a thought. It was ignored every time she said it.

  After an eternity of listening to the storm of voice, she could finally make sense of something being repeated over and over again. “ **The one who honors their blood yet abhors it must be wary of threats within as well as without.”**

  
          Rose woke up soon after that, greeted by the blindingly bright morning sun shining through her balcony doors. She groaned into the carpet mentally praising it for its softness. She would have continued to lay there, were it not for the aforementioned sun. The blackout curtains hanging in her bedroom were definitely needed, but she would have to go to the bathroom.

  
        Standing after a vision was always a spectacle, walking was even worse , but over the years, Rose had learned to stay upright most of the time and usually only fall once on her way to the bathroom. A fall that did not happen this time; she was improving. Once assured the contents of her stomach would stay such, Rose stared into the mirror. She was, as always, a horrifying sight: crying; the tears emitting a white light as they made tracks over her round cheeks- her pale blonde hair stood on end. Her headband was missing, probably abandon on her living room floor. Her eyes were still discolored, the white of her eyes having swallowed the iris and pupil whole. Rose blinked; once, twice, three times before her eyes went back to normal and the tears stopped glowing. She didn't bother with her hair. Rose walked out of her bathroom and straight into her bedroom, kicking off the boots that had been on for hours, she slid underneath her covers and stared into the darkness. Rose closed her eyes, letting the vision's details bounce around the inside of her skull and deciding not to tell Doctor Scratch about this vision.

                                                                                        Aradia

  
           Her hand pressed against her temple. The voices were particularly loud tonight and there weren't just voices. The sound of individual bubbles crashing into each other and imploding upon themselves slam into the innards of her think pan. Double God damn it, she would love to know what was rampaging through Calliope’s realm and causing her all this pain but the voice's words burred together with their screams as they were wiped from existence. Her hive door opened, closed, another waved of agony had her cringing in the slime before she could ask whose there. Another hand brushed hers away to shoosh pap her. She leaned into whoever hand it was. The pain was subsiding slowly. She could open her eyes. That was a plus. Sollux stood over her coon, concern carved into the hard lines of his face. His glasses dinged from his nose.

  
"Bad night huh AA?"

  
"Yeah" Her voice was rough. her lips were sore and tasted like blood.

  
Sollux moved the book from the sitting apparatus next to her coon so he could sit and pap her until everything stopped hurting and the voices were just whispers

  
"Do you know what causing it?" He asked, once she could sit up.

  
She cleared her throat "no, all I know is that whatever it is very angry so powerful strong enough to destroy pieceth the afterlife and everything inside! Strong enough to cull Calliope’s guardians..."

  
" AA...Aradia look at me!" his prong pressed to her bare skin.

  
She looked at him, feeling foolish. "You are thafe. Tholid. It's far away. It can't hurt you."

  
She nodded, with stupid pink tears sliding down her round cheek. "You're right, sorry. Let me get dress and we can do something."

         The something was heading down to the communal meal block and raiding the fridge for leftovers. It was the reason the meal blocks built into the hives were mostly for show. Every night, a teal blood would volunteer and make a fantastic breakfast and lunch. They had missed breakfast but no one could eat all the chief made. If being a rebel had no other perks, they are well fed.

  
"So I thought you joining the heiress tonight." she said around a mouth full grub load and charred baked roll.

  
“I am. I had to come thee you. Fuck knowth when I'll get the chance again”

  
“Aw, that's so sweet.” And it was.

  
           Her next door neighbor, Nepeta, sauntered into the meal block, smiling broadly when she saw them. They exchanged pleasantries and after she raided the cooling device, Nepeta sat with them.

  
“Have you spoken to Tavros?” she asked after a few minutes

  
“I haven't, Terezi has. He's still trying to convince the spider hag to layoff the rebellion. I think he's given up on trying to convince her to join.” Sollux answered

  
 Nepeta sighed “I'm in a similar boat with my morail. I wish he wasn't so stubborn and close-minded. At least, then I wouldn't have to lie to him.”

  
“What about that troll you and Terezi grew up in the caverns with?” Aradia asked

  
      Sollux pinch the bridge of his cartilaginous nub “Nubby panless fuck hasn't talked to me, Terezi, or Kanaya.” he pulled his palm husk out of he specibus. "I have to go." he stood

  
“I'll walk you to the door,” she said, Nepeta waved. The smile on her face was nowhere innocent. Aradia wasn’t sure she wanted to know where her mind was.

  
“I'm sorry about your friend,” She said when they were standing in the main entrance of the hive stem.

  
“Don't worry about it. He'll come around or, at least, he'll stop being so stupid” He pulled her into his arms. “Pale for you”

  
“Paler,” she responded

  
“Paletht” and with that Sollux was out the door, walking down the streets of their underground city without looking back.


	3. Chapter 3

 Dave

  
         He was leading this mission and goddamn it if he didn't want this over with. The whole thing made him sick. The silence was punctuated by the ear-splitting sound of copter's engine. Of all the nights to forget his headphones back at his shitty apartment, tonight had to be the night. His team sat stiffly on the metal bench, all eight members sitting like this was the first time they've ever risked their lives for Prospit, fucking noobs. Rosa sat next to him, the only one not clutching her weapons to her chest: in fact, she had a psychology textbook sprawled across her lap. The pilot's voice came over the loudspeaker, approaching the target. Dave stood, picked up the sword at his side and shrugged off his hoodie; fuck it was cold, it was witch's tits in a brass bra cold. Fucking cheap ass Prospit, couldn't even spring for fucking heat in their copters.  
“Weapons out!” He shouted, mostly for Rosa's benefit, walking to the bay door. It opened loud, scraping in its metal grooves.   

     The wind hit him like spikes in a pitfall trap from one of those shitty movies John and Jake are always hyped about. Tonight's target cut through the clouds as it sailed in the opposite direction. His shoulders shift of their own accord, the feeling spiders crawling across his skin, as his wings broke out of his skin The seven other members of the team shifted nervously behind him. Tossing himself out of a plane stories above the target always did surprise the noobs, this time, was no different.

  
       His landing dented metal deck, marking the spot with a crater that wasn't exactly little. The crew was surprised by the feathered asshole falling from above their head but shot with their cool laser guns at him. His unstunted wing curled around him, the feathers crystallizing. When the wing unfurled, feathers shot from the stunted wing impaling the trolls farthest from him. The one closest was impaled on the blade of his sword. Purple lighting flew over his head hitting one of the ships towers, it exploded as Rose hovered down beside him. The other six members landed in craters similar to his. Dave charged forward, cutting his way through the trolls with their lasers guns pointed in his direction until he was inside. Two of the noobs followed  behind him. From there, they went up. The stairs were narrow, twisting up the ship's tower. Troll magic was weird with spatial properties that allotted for rooms that shouldn't be within the given dimensions. Any other time it was fucking cool; Prospitian magic could only change the dimensions of their weapons to make them easier carrying. Now it was just pissing him off; heavy wooden doors kept appearing throughout the hallway letting the ship's crew throw everything they could at them. Some sniped at them from above with shitty wands instead of less shitty, really cool laser guns. Knight class soldiers and magic didn't particularly get along so the noobs stood behind him as his wing deflected most of the pop shots. It was an uncomfortable defense; the hallway was too narrow to open the wing even half of the way but it kept them alive and moving long enough to reach the wannabe snipers. If it wasn't already clear these idiots weren't  soldiers. Hell, they couldn't pass for storm troopers from the way they shot. The sniper trolls were down and dead much faster than he was used to.  
It all made sense when they respawn faster than any shitty opponent from a video game. Appearing this time armed with swords and spears, they tried to impale the three of you into the wall.  Fuckers shoulda stuck with wands. Knights could handle pointy things. It was getting kinda pathetic after a while.

  
       "Fucking surrender already. We just want the humans on the board. This doesn't have to be any more of a blood bath than it already is." Dave hissed through clenched teeth as his sword clashed against a troll's with horns shaped like deer antlers. His eyes were the color of his blood, like the rest of this group of idiots and like the ones before them, the green spit landed on Dave's cheek. Fucktard spat on him. With a grunt, Dave drew his sword across the troll's chest.  
He kicked the corpse out of his way and continued to up the stairs. There was one more door. Dave charged forward, cutting his way through the trolls with their laser guns pointed in his direction until he was inside. Two of the noobs followed behind him. From there, they went up. The stairs were narrow, twisting up the ship's tower. Troll magic was weird with spatial properties that allotted for rooms that shouldn't be within the given dimensions. Any other time it was fucking cool; Prospitian magic could only change the dimensions of their weapons to make them easier carrying. Any other time, he would be sightly jealous of their magic. Now it was just pissing him off; heavy wooden doors kept appearing throughout the hallway letting the ship's crew throw everything they could at them. Some sniped at them from above with shitty wands instead of less shitty, really cool laser guns. Knight class soldiers and magic didn't particularly get along so the noobs stood behind him as his wing deflected most of the pop shots. It was an uncomfortable defense; the hallway was too narrow to open the wing even half of the way but it kept them alive and moving long enough to reach the wannabe snipers. If it wasn't already clear these idiots weren't soldiers. Hell, they couldn't pass for storm troopers from the way they shot. The sniper trolls were down and dead much faster than he was used to.

  
       They made up for the shitty skills with numbers. They respawn faster than any shitty opponent from a video game. Appearing this time armed with swords and spears, they tried to impale the three of them into the wall. Fuckers shoulda stuck with wands. Knights could handle pointy things. It was getting kinda pathetic after a while.  
"Fucking surrender already. We just want the humans on the board. This doesn't have to be any more of a blood bath than it already is." Dave hissed through clenched teeth as his sword clashed against a troll's with horns shaped like deer antlers. His eyes were the color of his blood, like the rest of this group of idiots and like the ones before them, the green spit landed on Dave's cheek. Fucktard spat on him. With a grunt, Dave drew his sword across the troll's chest.  
He kicked the corpse out of his way and continued to up the stairs. There was one more door up ahead. His wings fanned out as they could. Harden feathers hit the door and its frame sending it to crashing to the ground with a heavy thud. Purple fire flowed around him burning like more acid than fucking fire. It glided around him forming a ball of hot flaming nightmare that swallowed him and his ability to think straight. Dave wanted to scream. Holy fucking shit did he want to scream.  
But he was way too cool for screaming, so Dave bit back the sound and his tongue. The purple fire faltered as blood coated his taste buds, his mind and line of sight cleared as the flames disappeared.

  
      They reappear just as quickly leaving him in a haze of pain but the illusion had been shattered. His wings unfurled, the feathers impaling the walls and nothing else. But the feathers did distract troll Aqua man long enough to dispel the illusion. The walking fish stick stood in the corner wearing more bling on his fins than was spilling out of the satchel clutched in his right hand. A shitty wand was clutched in his left pointed at him. Other than this asshole clearing out the ship's loot and the mustard troll tentacle chained in the center of the room with their throat silted, the ships bridge looked like something out of a low-budget navy movie.

  
       The troll swayed unsure of his next move. Then wordlessly he flicked his wrist. A green laser exploded from the tip of the wand. Dave wrapped his wings around him; the spell rebounded, setting the room ablaze with green light and sparks from burning computer equipment. Aqua man ducked when the troll straightened; his throat pressed Dave's sword. The body stood stiff for a few moments before slumping to his knees, all dead weight, and hitting the floor with a heavy thud. His head rolling a few inches away staining the wood violet. One of the noobs appeared in the door, saluting begrudgingly, she was not one of the two who followed him into the tower. “The ship has been taken. All enemy combatants are dead. No serious injuries on our side. Seer Lalonde is opening the cargo hold now.”

  
        The ship's cargo hold was dank and nasty with steel walls oozing the smell of death, piss, and fear. Those inside curled in on themselves when the metal doors slid open. None looked older than thirty, none looked younger than six or seven. Rose was the first to walk inside; body language loose and non-threatening. She stopped a few feet from them, knelt “We are not here to hurt any of you.” She spoke smoothly.

  
“You're.... human?” Someone stammered over the sobs of others.

  
“Yes, we all are.” Dave could hear someone behind him sneering 'he's not'. Rose hesitated. “ We here to free you.” It was a lie.    Prospit wasn't anyone's freedom or savor. As the prospitians slowly coax them out of the room, watched hope slowly come back to their face. Watched life flash in lifeless eyes; Dave felt sick because they were lying to them. These people didn't know that they had left one form off slavery for another. Didn't know they would never have the option of returning to normal lives.

        The F.E.L.T landed in a helicopter so green it look like it should be powering the New york city. How was that color even allowed on a stealth helicopter he didn't know. The F.E.L.T themselves were little assholes with skin varying shades of green skin and fugly multicolored hats. They cleaned up Prospit's messes and were fucking creepy as all hell as most of the little bastards didn't talk. The big man holding the reins of this fuck show wasn't big at all, only coming to Dave's waist, had a vomit green complex and a piss colored hat. He shook like a leaf in hurricane force wind as he saluted Dave and took command of the area.

  
Rose stood near one of the destroyed towers, waiting for him, all of the other had already left by return node.  
“You heard from Jake?” He asked.

  
“No, but he should already be there.”

  
       There was a Prospit base carved into the side of some mountain in the Alps. The transportorlizator left them standing in literally the worst place possible; the room is on fucking fire, blood stained the floor and the walls, and the Prospitian staff clash with dersite soldiers like its Black Friday and last of the shitty new hoverboard just went on sale and they've all got a kid at home begging for one. His brother had someone by the shirt and was seconds away from impaling them. Everyone froze, turning to stare at the two new comers. He stared back, mouth wide like he was trying to catch flies. Rose wasn't much better as she stood across the room with eyes the size of saucers. Dirk snapped out of it first. He appeared at Dave's side, “Sorry little bro.”Dave moved to unsheath his sword, pain exploded in the side of his head, and everything went dark.  
.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think and if there is any way to maintain the format from the word processor when posting the chapter text. I am getting a block of text.:3
> 
> 2/27/2016  
> Thank you for the 100+ hits


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake finally makes an appearance and Dave believes his family is crazy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, once again I ask you to let me know what you think by commenting and kudoing. If anyone would like to be a beta reader for this story please let me know. I desperately need one.Thank you for reading.  
> P.s. I made a major correction to chapter 2. I ask that you go back and take a gander at that.

Dirk

  
      He watched his little brother slump to the marble floor feeling like shit, 'Sorry bro' Dirk thought. Purple light flew just above his head, sleighing the peak of his hair. Who could possibly be dumb enough to aim for his hair? That was the biggest no touch zone every created by the double gods. Fucking sacrilege. Dirk turned to snarl at whoever had just broken the laws of nature. The youngest Lalonde careening in his direction with the speed of 'man that's going to hurt!' and her sewing nee...wands pointed straight at him. Dirk felt his anger evaporate but still he drew his sword back. He couldn't hurt Rose but he has to make this look good. Or maybe he didn't. Jack intercepted her at the exact moment something slammed into his back, tearing into his skin and knocking him off his feet. Dirk reorient himself landing to face the dude growling at him with clawed hands dripping his blood. He looked kinda familiar.

  
       The guy charged him, claws swinging at his face, barely missing him. He was good; faster than the rest of the prosptians he'd face tonight. Stronger too; deflected Dirk swing's bare handed. This one might just be worth his time. Dirk blocked a clawed hand, flashed behind him, slashing him. Would have been through him had his opponent not jumped forward. The man turned, pulling twin pistols out, he pulled both triggers in quick succession.

  
      The bullets clashed against his sword, sparking as Dirk deflected. They collided; dude defended with his pistols. It was an annoyingly effective defense. He pushed Dirk back. Closed the distance. One of the guns disappeared leaving on clawed hand free to scratch his face off. Which almost happened, Dirk barely moved before bro took his glasses, and probably his nose too, off. What's with people going for no touch zones tonight. He kicked Dirk back. Dirk let him, backing up, closer to one of the large pillars that supported the ceiling. His opponent followed him step for step.

  
       He moved behind the pillar. The prosptian followed. A big mistake. He hesitated, didn't look up until Dirk was already reaching for him. A bigger mistake. He tried to leap away but they were too close. Dirk grabbed him by the shirt. Heard it tear slightly as he spun the Prospitian into the pillar, hard enough to send a network of cracks throughout the structure but not to shatter it. Both guns clattered to the floor.

  
        The guy snarled in his face; pinned, dangling off the floor, with a sword to his throat, a hand-balled in the front of his shirt, and fear seeping into his mesmerizing green eyes. Dirk smirked in response. He moved his sword replaced it with a hand around his throat. He was sure he knew him from somewhere, maybe a friend of Dave's or Roxy's, so he wouldn't kill him. From the sound coming from him and the claws digging into his arms, Dude was hella pissed. Dirk couldn't blame him for that but he needed this Prospitian out of his way. Peregrine Mendicant flew back into the room and it wouldn't be much longer before Prospit sent reinforcements. Dirk tighten his hold on the dude's throat until his struggling stopped and he went limp. Dirk dropped him. Peregrine Mendicant landed beside him, kneeling, her wings folded behind her.

  
“Any luck?”

  
      “No, my king.” She answered solemnly. Jack dropped on the other side of him. “Order a retreat.” Jack nodded and disappeared. Peregrine followed. Dirk sighed; one down three to go. He stepped pass the unconscious prospitian, over the dead and injured, to where Dave laid. The shitty feeling returned to his gut increased by three when he saw Rose slumped against the wall. He trusted Jack's use of nondeadly force but Roxy was going to kill him. Oh well. He tossed his little brother over his shoulder. He'd handle that when he needed to.

  
Dave

     The gap between sleep and awareness was crossed quickly, jarringly, leaving him closer to panic than he'd like to omit. He jerked slightly, which he hoped wasn't too noticeable because he wasn't in Kansas anymore. Kansas being Prosit property or his apartment. The bed he was laid out on was way too unshitty to be anywhere touched by Prosit's influence. He wasn't alone either; two people sat in the room with him. And sweet whooping howler monkeys, his head fuckin' hurt. "Hey." One of the people were now invading his personal space, poking him in the cheek with nails that were more like talons, "Are you gonna lay there all day cuz if you are me and my matespit have other things to do." He cracked an eye open. The room was dark, thankfully, he could make out the blurry shape of a troll darting out of his line of sight. He sat up. "Your glasses are over there." She stated pointed beside him.

  
"Look, I'm not hungry so y'all can leave."

  
"OK." "Alright," The two said in unison. The human stood from her armchair, the troll was already on her way to the door.

  
"Wait! Do either of you know nowhere I can find the pompous ass who brought me here?" Troll girl shook her head.

  
"His office is somewhere on this floor. You could check there." The human said.

  
"Thanks."

  
     Somewhere on this floor was not as helpful as he'd thought. The floor was fucking huge and eerie as shit. He couldn't hear anything but his sneakers against the white marble floor. It was aggravating as all hell not to mention the god damned corridor was like a maze. What was he; a fucking lab rat looking god damn cheese. Each wrong turn and empty room were his electric shock. By the time he found Dirk's office, hidden in plain sight, Dave was ready to flip his shit.

  
     He walked through the first set of damn near shaking. The second was wide open showing his douche-bag brother sitting at a dark wood desk paperwork scattered from corner to corner. In front of him stood Bec, blood splattered and wearing a mask shaped like dog's snout, and a Dersite Dave only knew as Diamonds Droog. He was a member of Spades crew; the only one that bothered with Ermenegildo Zegna suits. They turned to look at him. Dirk didn't look up. Dave felt all the anger leave him.  
Droog nodded in his direction, “Glad to you're still in one piece, Lord Strider.”

  
“Yeah, you too.”  
  
     “Nice to see ya kid.” Bec greeted, “When you're done here, come see us. It's been a while since any of us saw you. We'll be down in medical.” They left out of the second set of doors, pass the couch and entertainment center Dirk had in his office. Bec and Droog had left two intricate carved obsidian crowns sitting in little pools of blood on the desk.  
Dirk continued to write, ignoring him.

  
"Why am I here, you heinous tool? And what the fuck is with you trying to give me a concussion in the process?"

  
"Good morning to you too, Bro. And I thought it might look just little suspicious if you just walked away with the king of Derse after he'd just declared war on you but whatever. Just thought you'd want to know that I accept your proposal.”

  
He was taken back by that, “For real cuz my answer hasn't changed.”

  
“Yes, and I will find a different way to see you as prince. That's a promise little brother.”

  
“The hell you will.” Dirk didn't comment. “What changed? I mean you were pretty amendment about the whole prince thing and not fucking with Prospit.”

  
“You wouldn't believe me.”

  
Dave shrugged “Try me.” Dirk finally looked up.

  
He sat the pen down, “Broderick attacked us the other night and stole...” he paused, considering “Do you remember the legend mom used to tell us when we were kids?"

  
"The one about the girl and the lake or the princes in the tower?"

  
"No, the origin of the three races and the end of our universe."

  
Dave nodded. "What does the had to do with anything?"

  
"Broderick stole one of the three juju keys to the universe." his brother deadpanned.

  
They looked at each other for a moment before Dave burst out laughing. " Dude, do the Noires know what you're on? Crack is whack bro and heroin will kill you." Dave took a breath, "But seriously dude you shouldn't base your foreign policy of legends and shit."

  
Dirk sighed, "Look, Dave whether or not you believe me doesn't matter. you asked. I answered. I told you won't believe me."

  
"Whatever, man, hope the whole fairytale fueled war works out for you. Just don’t kill too many of Skaia's soldiers. We kind of need those." Dave turned and left.

  
     The medical wing was just as hard to find as the office but this time, there were people to ask for directions.  
" Oh, the medical wing is on the second underground floor. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask Prince David." said a redhead when he asked, God he hated being called Prince David, they bowed him in the right direction. The medical wing looked like a hospital. A really nice hospital with better furniture and no plastic on anything unless it was absolutely necessary. The Noirs were in the second room on the right, Bec was sitting by the bed. Jack ,the youngest, was sitting with his back to the door. There was someone else in the room he didn't recognize; tiny, round, and blonde, the woman had her head laying on the bed all up in Spades' personal space. Spades, the oldest brother, laid in the bed white as the sheets he laid in. Bandages wrapped around the side of his head covering an eye and poor dude was missing an arm.

  
"Dude, what steam roller crushed you?!" He was shooshed by everyone one but the sleeping women. Jack pulled him into the room, clapped him on the back hard enough to knock the air out of him. Bec didn't move. Spades couldn't.

  
“Sorry bout last night.”Jack said, letting go and sitting back down.

  
“Don't worry about it”

  
"Long time no see kid. How've you been?" Spades spoke low.

  
"I'm good. Anyone want to tell me what happened to you."

  
"Your illustrious leader cut into me trying to get to the juju."

  
Dave scratched the back of his neck "Yeah don't worry about it, kid, I intend to pay him back in full." the blood lust imprinted in his smile was tangible. Dave didn't have a response to that. The woman groaned, sitting up.

   
  "Sorry, did we wake you?" Spades' voice softened. Did he just walk into the Twilight Zone? He must have because all three brothers apologized. The blonde shook her head. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep here." she surveyed the room with dark-ringed eyes. "Please excuse me, everyone." The woman stood, stopped in front of him, and offered Dave her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, young man. May I assume that you are lord David Strider?”

  
    He took her hand with it's perfectly manicured nails "Umm..yes ma." there something wrong with this situation. Maybe it was Spades' glare. No, that was actually pretty normal. Maybe it was Jack's smirk, the one that he was trying to hide from Spades, that said he had shit to tell Dave.

  
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Marguerite Paint.” She hesitated, “I am Spades' fiance.” Both Spades and the women turned the color of over-ripe cherries.

  
“It's nice to meet you.” They shook hands. Marguerite left.

  
“Fiance? When did that happen?” he asked.

  
“Bout six months ago.”

  
“Dude! That's awesome Congratulations!”

  
“Thanks, kid. Why you still standing in the door. Com' and sit.”

    Dave sat in one of the round-backed chairs and stayed for a while. He wanted to stay longer but decided against. There was only so long a guy could sit in the 'enemy’s' stronghold and no look like a traitor. Even if he was one. Still the Noires only asked him about his health once which was a major improvement. He stood then paused because there was still something he needed to ask them.

  
“So I asked Bro about the whole declaration of war thing and told me that was a go because some religious thing, that may cause the end of the universe, was stolen. He was punking me right?”

  
The room went quiet. Dave's eyes darted from brother to brother. He sighed “So my brother has snapped.”

  
“No, he hasn't.” Bec said

  
“Then what is it then?” he paused “Don't tell me yall actually believe it too."

  
“Yes, we do.” Jack said.

  
“OK. So say by some fate fuckery the three things...”

  
“Juju.” Spades corrected.

  
“Juju. Really do have the capacity to bring the death serpent or whatever...”

  
“God you've been with the humans too long” Bec hissed, Dave ignored him.“All of them have to be together and all three races need to be in strife with the others. This is...” He gestured to thin air. “counterproductive.”

“All of them have to be together and all three races need to be in strife with the others. This is...” He gestured to thin air. “counterproductive.”

  
“All three races aren't warring.” Spades argued. “Alternia and Derse are allies even if that alliance is hanin' by a string. And now we're allied with Skaia. With the humans. Prospit's destruction won't matter.”\

  
He really needed to talk to someone not full of it; well less full, maybe only half full. So Dave changed the topic, said his goodbyes, and began the confusing track out of the asinine maze his family chose to live in.


	5. Chapter 5

Rose

She laid there, eyes closed, clutching the pale sheets as the nurses chattered just outside her hospital room.

  
"You know I’m surprised this many survived." one of them said

  
"You are?" the other gasped dramatically

  
" You’re new right? Well, let me tell you! Dersites are known for their brutality. Hell, I'd say they are even more brutal than the trolls." the first said in a hushed tone, "I'm surprised any of the mountains soldiers made it out alive."

  
The second nurse made noises of appreciation and horror.

  
"You know..." she paused, "two of the great families still highly involved with Derse."

  
"They are?!"  
  
"Keep your voice down! And yes they are. That woman in there." She must have pointed in Rose's direction. "Her and her sister are the last of the Lalonde family. That family was always weird. I hear her sister practically grew up with the King of Derse." more gasping "It would make sense. The past leaders of the Egbert, Harley, Lalonde, and English all died trying to make peace with monsters. Even Stranger Family is not safe from that betrayal."

  
" No, Broderick's clan would never!"

  
" It's true. His younger brother fornicated with the former Queen of Derse and made that little abomination. The blonde one with the stupid glasses, you've seen him haven't you?"  
Another paused then overdramatic gasp.

"Him! He was so nice, though. A little odd but nice.”

  
"Don't fall for it! They're always nice when they want to suck your soul from your body"

  
There was another gasp this time in sheer horror. Rose wanted to roll her eyes; Dersites could not suck out souls.

  
"Why is he allowed roam free? If he...."

  
" Don't worry Broderick keeps him on a tight leash. It's just best to keep your distance from him."

  
"Why are the four families allowed to stay in Prospit? "

  
"Because Broderick is a kind leader and the sins of the father do not pass on to the son. I'm sure he was hoping to get the families back on the right track." The first nurse said sweetly. Broderick was no fool; their families would always have someone loyal to them. At the moment that someone was a significant percent of Prospit. The sound of heels was accompanied by,

" Alright, that's enough you two! You both have other duties to attend to." The voice was feminine and very stern. The two nurses scurried away and the heels clicked into her room. The door closed and the heels clicked pass the bed over to the window. The room dimmed significantly.

  
" They're gone. You can open your eyes now." and so she did.

  
         Jane stood, smiling, arms folded over her chest. She was darker in complexion than John, more of a burnt umber than sepia, pump, with bright red lips and even redder heels. Her dark hair curled just above her throat. She pulled a flashlight out of her lab coat pocket and shined it in Rose's eyes.

" What's the prognosis doctor?" Rose asked, Jane pulled away and turned off the flashlight.

  
"Last night, it would have been bruises and a very mild concussion. However the records will say three broken ribs and severe cranium trauma."

  
" I understand."

  
“While you weren't injured too badly I would be sure to mention it to..." she paused unsure of the name. "Jack that while any aggression towards one another must look real it doesn't need to look that real."

  
"I'll be sure to mention it to him."

  
" You have a change of clothes in the drawer" she pointed to the nightstand where her cell phone and sewing needles sat. " I would suggest getting dressed quickly. Broderick and Doctor Scratch would like to speak with you."

  
Rose groaned "oh dear. Is there any story I need to maintain?"

  
"Nothing besides why you and Dave were there in the first place.” She said, walking to the door. “I officially release you from my care madam.” She waved

Rose nodded, slipping from underneath the sheets. “Thanks, Jane.”

     Broderick's office was at the peak of headquarters; up floors off stairs and protected with so much magic that the wall hummed with it. Somewhere along the stairway, something sinister could be heard. The sound started so far away from the conscious mind that it was unnoticeable but the further one walked the louder it became. It was laughter. Sometimes snickering. Other times chortling. But always an expression of humor; wordless and constant. As Rose enter the office door, she was ready to scream, to ask what was so goddamned funny but who would she be asking? Broderick sat at his desk, quiet, yellow blonde head bent over paperwork. He paid her no mind as she entered.

       The noise was as always coming from that cursed puppet sitting to the right of him on a desk; with eyes that should have been hollow. The thing seemed to move ever time she looked away from it. How the fuck did he sit here with that thing all day with going mad was any ones guess. Rose took a deep breath, settling herself. Broderick sat the pen down. “Your report Rose?”

She begin, pleased she didn’t have to edit her story much. “Why were you and Dave in the Alps?”

“We were meeting with Jake to plan Jade's birthday party.” It was a weak excuse but not entirely false.

“And did my nephew go with Dietrich willingly?

“No sir.” Rose was sure, he had six statements already that answered that same question.

“I want a physical report as soon as possible”

“Yes sir”

“And Rose, when you speak to Dave, tell I want him in my office asap. Same thing with your sister. Make sure she doesn't ignore me. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir” She was definitely going to ignore him. Trying to convince her not to was an uphill battle.

       Broderick demised her by picking up his pen and forgetting she was there. Rose left as quick as possible, pleased to get away from cackling puppets and exalted leaders alike. Once at the bottom of the stairs, she turned right. The corridor slowly became to take on several shapes of green. Everything became lavished; from the emerald carpet, the artificial juniper and shamrock plants, paintings painted only with shades of green. Clocks peppered the hallway just as they the greeting room Rose entered.

Doctor Scratch sat in a forest arm chair, a smile crawled across his paper white skin. This stubby fingers wrapped around the handle of a teacup “ Miss Lalonde, it is a pleasure to see you again. Can I offer you anything”

“Hello, Doctor. No, I don't think I will take anything, I can't stay long. Would it be too forward to ask why you wanted to see me today?”

“Only slightly. You are this generation’s only seer. It is my job to oversee your development and it has been a long time since we have talked.” His voice dripping with honey.

“It has been awhile since I have had a vision.” She lied

“ Has it now?”

“Yes.” His blazing green eyes narrowed. “Is that all, Doctor?”

“Yes, that is all. Please, Rose, I ask if you have any visions that you come to me.”She nodded.

The cell phone vibrated from the pocket of her dress. She didn't move to answer it. "Of course." she bowed at the waist before leaving. Rose didn't answer her phone until she was settled back home on her couch thinking that she'd forgotten to get an excuse for class from Jane.

  
The push notification was for pesterchum; the messaging app Roxy designed. Dave red text appeared on her screen.

  
'So ive got good news and bad news.”

  
'good news is that bro is on board with the alliance”

  
'bad news is im pretty sure he and the noires have fallen off the deep end”

  
' you know like if we're all squirrels and nuts were currency.

  
'they'd be in the squirrel one percent”

“owning nut conglomerates and shit.

“keeping the rest of us poor, nut-less and hungry.

  
''What would give you that idea?”

  
'the fact that they believe some legend is about to stop being a legend. “

“and that if the three races every get into a three-way war the world will end.”

  
"You know, I believe the trolls have a similar legend.”

“they do”

  
"Yes. It's a little different from the one you know. Before the beginning, the was nothing expect two endless creatures trapped in bloody eternal combat. Neither losing or winning; they tore blood and bone from one another. Eventually, the pieces of bone became the earth and everything tangible.”

  
“From where the two blood pools merged, the first mother grub emerged.

  
“This grub birthed the first fuchsia then violets then indigos and so on until the first rust.”

  
'Then the first dersites were birth from a pool of blood purely from the female creature”

  
''And humans were born from the blood of male creature .”

  
'The female eventually grew bored of the constant warring.”

  
'She broke free: building worlds around herself and the new universe they'd created, worlds that the dead would come to inhabit ,creating creatures to accompany her.

  
'It is said that her male counterpart grew anger at this”

  
'dont tell me you actually believe that"

  
'No, not completely but I figured there must be some truth to it. Like how most major cultures have legends of floods.”

  
'......”

  
'Dave, you sprout bird wings as a regular occurrence. Does this seem so far fetched?"

  
“yeah I know”

  
"Believe what you will dearest cousin. But is someone's belief in this myth any more unusual than someone's belief in the Christian myths or those in Hinduism.”

“no, but thier all stupid” Rose could see him shrugging his shoulders and decided to change the topic

“Bro wants to see you”

“yeah I kinda figured he would”

“did the reason we meant up wit jake change'

“or is there any new lies I need to know”

“No. He also wants to talk to Roxy”

“oh shit”

“good luck with that”

“Thanks, I know I'll need it”

The )(eiress

      "Meehah please, you don't .. you don't have to go," Feferi said, standing in the doorway of the bedroom Meehah shared with Aranea. Fuchsia slid down her cheeks. Meehah turned to her,sitting the trident and the cloth she had been using to shine it down. "Whale you stop your blabbin'", that made her cry harder. Meehah signed, walked until she could touch the young troll, and kneeled. It didn't make much of a difference, Meehah still towered over her.

         "I do gotta go," Meehah said softly, "If I dont no one will and Condy will come and kill you. And I need you alive. Who else gonna rule the empire. Shore as hell ain't gonna be me." Meehah laid a hand on her shoulder, "When this is over the empire's gonna need a lot of fixin so you gotta be tough, 'lright suckerfish?" Feferi wiped her tears away, bobbing her head up and down. Meehah smiled, all her jagged shark teeth on display, the hug she pulled Feferi into surprised her. Meehaeh let go quickly and stood, "Meehah, Cronus is here." Aranea said, from the hall. Meehah nodded, picked up her double sided trident and walked out of the room. She didn't say goodbye.

       The grub load sat half eaten on her plate later the night with a bed of rice and mixed vegetables, well mostly lima beans now that Feferi had picked out all the carrots and corn. Eridan sat next to her, his plate was almost clean and a textbook larger than he was in front of him. It was about magic and both of them were supposed to be reading it. The lights dimmed over their heads; it wasn't an odd occurrence in the small hive Aranea and Meehah shared, still Feferi looked up, watching as dust fell into her plate from the trembling roof. Another regular ourrcurce. Aranea ran into the room: a very visible flush of cerulean across her cheeks. Her eyes showed too much yellow. She moved to the closet door, held it open, the hive shook again. "Get in" She spoke quickly and clearly before either of them could speak. "T8 everthing w8 you and stay q8. You must NOT m8 a sound or come out 8efore I say so. I don't say so: es8pe though the tunnel just like we practiced. Do NOT come 8ack for m8. Do you underst8?"

      Feferi nodded, clearing the table of both sets of dining ware while Eridan carried the textbook. The door closed behind him. The old wooden door had a few cracks in it just large enough to see out of. Eridan crawled pass her, pass piles of Meehah's and Araena's belongings, to a little trap door not to much wider than she was. Feferi planted herself by in front of the cracks to watch Araena move about the room . She watched her push the chairs under the table, watched Araena spray something from a canister which she promptly tucked back into the folds of her blight blue dress, heard the sound of boots hitting the wooden floors approaching the sitting room. Araena kneeled in the center of the room, her horns to the floor. Two unknown trolls entered the room- land dwelling highbloods-sweeping the room like deep purple waves.

       The two followed Eridan's ancestor, a troll she only knew as Dualscar, walked into the room and out of her line of sight. "Araena, wwhere is Eridan. Cronus was suppose to bring him here!" Araena did not lift her head, "I have not seen him, Lord Ampora." Araena said calmly. Dualscar growled, then went silent as more footsteps abused the well-worn wood floor of the underground hive, heels this time. The wearer of those heels, fuchsia stilettos, made Fefei's collapsing and expanding vascular system stop working. )(er Imperious Condescension had just entered the room. "Fef wwhats goin on?" Eridan whispered beside her, Feferi didn't respond, just watched as the Condesce glided in and out of her line of sight: all gold jewelry and black hair that looked more like tentacles, as she surveying the room carrying a golden trident that matched Meehah's.

"I like what you've done with the place, Araena." the Condesce purred.

"Thank you, your Cond..."

"Remind me, W)(O gave you this hive in the first place, Araena? Better yet, tell me who let you live after your ancestor's part in that weakass of rebellion. Who let you and meehah live?"

"You did, your impe..."

"So why did that BITCH try and cull me tonight hm? After I so graciously let her live!" She paced into Feferi's line of vision, around Araena, like a predator.

"I do not kn..."

"But you do know, tell me why did I let Meehah live?" the Condesce prodded Araena's head up with the edge the trident until she was looking at the Condesce.

"Meehah renouced the throne and proved herself useful to you by proving information.."

"None of that includes hiding the heir to ma throne Araena." Feferi took notice of the shaking in Araena shoulders.

"I swear to you I have no knowledge of another tyanart troll besides yourself and Meehah, my lady."

The Condesce took a deep breath "Then what was your morail doing tonight?"

"I do not know" The Empress made a sound deep in her throat that Feferi could not describe but she moved the trident away from Araena's throat which had to be a good thing.

"I do not know whether or not you are telling the truth, but either way, you are useless."

    The trident moved and then cerulean hit the floor with a horrible splash; Araena slumped to the floor. Eridan pulled her away from the door and she realized her own hand covered her mouth. "Fef,wwe need to go." She felt her body shake, the weight of the hand on her shoulder didn't seem to be coming from Eridan. "Fef,wwe need to go." Eridan's mouth was moving, but the voice was not coming from him.

      Her body jerked into a sitting position, eyes opening to see the dusty rafters of a warehouse instead of the low ceiling of Araena's closet. The warehouse was brightened with the coming dawn and the light was burning her unadjusted eyes. Eridan leaned over her face, full of concerned; older now, and already in his human appearance. Gog, she felt foolish, dawn was already here and she was still in her bed..sleeping bag. "Sorry Eridan, I overslept." well that sounded pathetic. Eridan sat back on his hunches,"it's ok fef but wwe really should be moving on. Sol is suppose to meet us so."And he did not sound happy about it as he stood.

       She stood too; bending back down to roll up the sleeping, the denim shorts chafing her thighs, they were getting too small. Feferi allowed her horns to slip back into her skull and her skin to darken to brown rather than the grey. All trolls could perform this magic despite limitations of their blood. She tucked her very few belonging into her knapsack and slid the straps over her shoulders before pulling her trident from her strife specibus. Eridan had been ready to leave for a while now and stood by the door that would be leaving out of- Ahab's Crosshairs in his hands, armed and ready- he was the first out the door sweeping their surroundings for enemies. They looked silly as they crept about the property but who cares about looking silly. It wouldn't have been the first time empire soldiers were waiting to ambush them outside of their camp.

      The industrial area of this town was pretty much abandoned, so they didn't run into any human as they walked the streets. A few cars pass them, morning commuters on their way to work, when they reached the more populated parts of the city, they moved through alleyways. Sollux waited near an opera house of all places: standing on the street hunched over, wear a black hoodie too thick for today's warm weather. His horns were gone and so were his thin framed red and blue glasses. Thicker sunglasses replaced them. When he saw them, he dropped his knapsack and pulled Feferi into a tight hug. "Missed you FF" His voice was low, it made her smile, "Missed you too." she murmured against his shoulder. Eridan cleared his throat. Sollux growled in response, but they pulled away from one another.

"Wwhere are wwe headed to next, Fef?"

Feferi smiled, "We're heading to the base in Mozambique to check on progress there."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3/28/16  
> Thank you for the 150+ Hits  
> And thank you for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

      Karkat

       As the night progressed it was becoming harder and harder to find his targets; a cerulean ruffiannihilator sneaking secrets to the rebellion and all the thinkpanless asses affiliated with him. The club was filled with patrons from all three races all in human form grinding on each other like the desperate nookstains the they were. At least, the DJ was good. He had caught the human's eye during a song change and the smile the DJ gave him made Karkat rethink the classification of 'human'. Karkat couldn't see his eyes, who wears black aviators at night: assholes that's who and he'd bet his last boombuck that a was a dersite . Karkat glared back, blunt fangs bared in his mouth. The DJ kept smiling but put his eyes back on his turntables. Karkat moved his eyes from the stage. Movement in the back of the club caught them again. A female troll was sneaking into a back room.

     He slid off the bar stool and followed. Once hidden from the crowd; her human appearance faded. Mid-blood, tiny horns, her blood color still fighting the grey in her eyes: 11 sweeps at most. She continued down a flight of stairs and he followed, the bass from the club hiding his footsteps. The troll was kind of pathetic, to not hear or see him, Karkat hoped she had nothing to do with his target. Culling her would suck. That hope was crushed when she finally reached a door at the end of the hall and his target sat behind it.

    She stood in the door as the ruffiannihilator growled that they'd been made. Shit, it was now or never. Karkat moved forward, out of the shadows, his sickle in hand.

       The troll made a little noise as the sickle slashed her throat. The force of the bullets the Bronze fired from the corner, keeping the body upright. Karkat moved further into the room, ducking to avoid the fist the ruffiannihilator aimed at his face. Karkat slashed his arm, the blue blood withdrew. The bronze fired again, Karkat dogged moving with the blue who swing again, the right arm this time. The bronze was reloading his rifle. The blue's swung left, his thorax wide open. The fist collided with his thorax knocking the air out of him and filling his mouth with the taste of blood. Karkat dragged his sickle across the blue's exposed thorax. The wound was deep, painful but not immediately deadly to a blue blood. The bronze took aim and fired. Karkat jumped up; over the ruffiannihilator.

Splitting the cerulean open might not kill him immediately, but getting shot right after was more than enough.

     The bronze paused, it was probably dawning on the dumb ass that bringing a gun to such close quarters was not the brightest of ideas or maybe the guilt of being the definite cause of death of his allies was hitting him. Whatever it was, the sorry barfpuppet dropped his weapon and fall to his knees. His face covered in horror and guilt, oh yeah Karkat would be seeing that face in his day terrors for weeks.

      Karkat hated this part, hated it almost more than the kill itself, stealing the signs off the corpses to prove he actually done it. He paused over the female; she wore two signs, once as a belt buckle, that one was hers, and another on a silver chain around her neck. It was a version of his: stylized to the of almost unrecognizably not many would that the signs were the same. Thank fuck for small favors. He left the chain alone.

    Some secret meeting place this is. No one had heard or cared that trolls were dying beneath their feet. He ran into no one on his way out. The dance floor was still just as loud and sexual. The only problem occurred when left the bar.

     "Karkat!" A return node just had to drop her here, right behind him, after he’d just culled three members of the rebellion. A rebellion she was probably horns deep in. He turned to her, she wasn't wearing that shit-eating grin of her nor any emotion at all. No, Terezi Pyrope was giving him the blankest face he'd every seen. Then suddenly she's back to grinning "Hello Karles, what brings you here?" She crackled.

         "I should ask you the same thing Terezi."

          Her smile lost something he couldn't name. "I asked you first, Karkat." Then she gasped, hands covering her mouth,        "Could it be, Karkat, that you’re doing Condy's dirty work!"

           Karkat narrowed his eyes. " Not this again Terezi.”

           "I don't know you're talking about Karles. I'm just saying that the Threshecutioners are dirtier as dirt noodles.”

          "At least, I still have my aspirations, Ms.Legislacerator" That was not as scathing as it sounded in his head.

           She shrugged "I still have my goals: I want to bring justice and equality to the Atlerian empire, not this hemo-bias lie that makes up the system we live in today." She snickered again, "After all, we all hang the same way."

           Karkat ignored that, "Whatever, just don’t come crying to me when you're about to be culled.”

           "Don't worry Cherry-pop, if you're the one doing the culling I won't have anything to cry about." She pushed past him, heading towards the club. Karkat watched her go: feeling sick, he pushed the preset location in his return node.

         Headquarters was under some fucking field in Kansas, even trolls did not like Kansas. Yet it seemed like the entirety of the Threshecutioners’ army were always there. His commanding officer’s was in the deepest part of the underground. He walked into the dark office and set the signs on the desk, took two steps back and stood at parade rest, keeping his eyes directed at the floor waiting to be acknowledged.

            The high blood sitting behind the desk was small for an indigo, maybe below six feet, none the less intimidating with white paint splattered on his face with no particular pattern that Karkat could see and tangled dark hair that more or less blended into the darkness of the room.

           He reached for the signs after five minutes or so, taking his sweet time inspecting each. He sat back “ “How did you get each of these signs, shitblood?” Karkat recounted the events of the night's mission, pausing to take in the surprise on his superior's face when he mentioned ruffiannihilator knowing someone was coming for them. When he had finished his report his superior sat back in his chair, "I was hoping the ruffiannihilator would take you out low blood.”

 _'And I was hoping you'd taken the ethereal sleep by the time I got back you, primitive vacuous shitclown but we can't get everything we want can we?_ ' Karkat snarled, not out loud, though.

        "Do you know why you’re last few missions have been alone?”.

         "No sir," Karkat answered, keeping his eyes on the floor.

         "I was asked to recommend a new panther for a laughassign” Karkat had to look up at that. Partner with a laughassign? This had to be a joke right? One of the subjugglator's sick jokes. The highblood wasn't laughing as he slid a vanilla envelope across the desk. “Starting next week this will be your partner. Pack your shit too, you'll be moving to the laughassign headquarters two nights from now” The highblood said as Karkat reached for the envelope. “And don't Fuck this up! My ass is on the line, muck-blood “ He hissed and Karkat found himself bowing and retreating from the room. He didn't run to his respiteblock immediately as he would have liked. There were two bluebloods standing outside the office door, snarling and jeering at him as he closed the door behind him, and he'd be damned if he gave them more martial to use against him.

      “Whats wrong Vantas? They set a date for your culling yet?” The bigger one snarled

     He didn't respond, the smaller one who was still much larger than him laughed, reaching for the folder, “What you got there, shitblood?”

     “None of your business fuckass “ He drew the folder closer, a mistake, the two grew more interested, drawing closer blocking the hallway. “Give it here wigger!” The two charged at once, dumb fucks, Karkat leaped over them. One collided with the wall, the other hit the office door. The sound the highblood made from inside was terrifying and Karkat could hear him approaching the door. Now was the perfect time to run and he did.

    Karkat reached his respiteblock, panting. He leaned on the door, realizing that if the highblood didnt kill or hospitalize those bugle-muchers, he'd be stuck in his block for the next few nights. Which was OK, he should have enough grubloaf in his small meal vault to last him and if he didn’t that was OK too, Karkat was used to skipping a meal or two or six. Tonight, however, he wasn't planning to skip any meals. He entered his block, locking the door behind him,intend on food. The block was dark as usual, the only light coming from the husk top on his desk. He had a message and when he saw the bright green text, Karkat debated answering.

   “Hello Karkat”

    “IF THIS IS ANYTHING ABOUT OR FROM KANKRI, YOU CAN STOP NOW.”

     “This Is Not About Kankri Although He Does Want You To see This”

      She posted a file before he could stop her.

     “KANAYA I'M NOT REDING THIS.”

     “You Can't Ignore Him Forever”

     “WATCH ME! THIS IS ME INGORING HIM. BESIDES ITS MOSTLY REASONS I SHOULD GO BACK AND HIDE IN THE BROODING CAVERNS LIKE A COWARDLY BUGLEFUCK JUST LIKE HIM ISN'T IT? NO FUCKING THANK YOU!”

      “Some Of It Is But Most of it is just him worrying about you”

       “You Have Not Spoken To Him Since You Left The Caverns”

      “JEE I WONDER WHY? COULD IT HAVE SOME THING TO DO WITH THE ALMIGHTY BULGEFUCK ALWAYS BITCHING ABOUT MY LIFE CHOICES? I DONT KNOW KANAYA WHAT DO YOU THINK? AND EVEN IF I DID WANT TO TALK TO HIM, ITS DANGEROUS TO DO SO. THE EMPIRE KNOWS WHO HE IS. I AM A THRESHECUTIONER. THRESHECUTIONERS AND FUGITIVES DON'T FUCKING MIX.” He typed the last part in a fury.

     “I Realize That Karkat But You Are His Descendent He Is Going To Worry About You No Matter How Many Times You Curse Him Or Demand He Leaves Your Life”

       “But Fine I Will Not Mention It Again I Wanted To Know How You Were Doing Its Been A Long Time Since Any Of Us Talked To You”

        “IM COOL. JUST GOT MOVED TO A SOLO UNIT INSTEAD OF A FLAYSQUAD BUT I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT KANAYA. I HEARD YOU BECAME A RAINBOW DRINKER.” Why Karkat wasn't quite sure why he didn't tell her about the laughassign thing.

       “That’s Wonderful Youre That Much Closer To Your Goal”

        “ As For Me Being A Rainbow Drinker I Will Admit It Was Quite A Shock At First But I Have A Friend Who Helped Me Adjust The Caverns Have Not Changed Much And I Am Still Stuck Here”

         The bitterness was clear in that.

       “HOW IS SOLLUX?” Not knowing how to respond means change the topic.

       “Hes Doing Well  He And Terezi Haven’t Been Able To Sneak In And Out Like They Used To”

       “THE PORTALS HAVE INCREASE HAVEN'T THEY?”

        “Yes It Is Believed That The Rebellion Has Gotten To The Caverns But I Have To Tell You More Later I Have To Go”

         “OK I'LL TALK TO YOU LATER BE SAFE KANAYA”

         “I Will Be” She signed off.

        Karkat sat back, suddenly exhausted, he was no longer hungry. He sat up, leaving his husktop in favor of his cocoon, taking the folder with him. Once he was settled in, Karkat opened the folder; it contained two sheets of paper, one with a picture. The troll in the image was a highblood, of course, he wore the white religious paint and an expression that led Karkat to believe he wasn't all there . His name was the most surprising thing about him. Gamzee Makara. Makara as in Grand Highblood Makara; that wasn't the Grand highblood in the folder. He's descendent maybe. Karkat had to read the name more than once and once Karkat was sure he wasn't wrong, he sat the folder on the floor. This was a joke, a sick joke meant to send him to his death. This is not what he'd wanted: to be noticed as an asset to the empire worthy of continued existence. Not to be some highbloods' plaything. This really fucking sucked.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading.


End file.
